PhD Position in Literary Studies: Re-Imagining Water in the Neerlandophone Space

at  Universiteit van Amsterdam

PhD Position in Literary Studies: Re-Imagining Water in the Neerlandophone Space
Faculteit/Dienst: Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen
Opleidingsniveau: Master
Functie type: Promotieplaats
Sluitingsdatum: 1 June 2024
Vacaturenummer: 12928
Are you looking for a challenging position in a dynamic setting? The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) currently has a vacant PhD position as part of the Startersbeurs Grant ‘How to Welcome the Water: Re-Imagining Water in the Neerlandophone Space’, led by Dr Marrigje Paijmans and Prof. Gaston Franssen. The ASCA is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR).
ASCA is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research. ASCA is home to more than 120 scholars and 160 PhD candidates, and is a world-leading international research school in Cultural Analysis. ASCA members share a commitment to working in an interdisciplinary framework and to maintaining a close connection with contemporary cultural and political debates.

YOUR EXPERIENCE AND PROFILE

Candidates need to have the following qualifications:

• A completed Master’s degree in the Humanities or in a field relevant to the project. You may apply if you have not yet completed a Master’s degree only if you provide a signed letter from your supervisor stating that you will graduate before 31 August 2024;
• Outstanding research qualities manifested in strong BA and MA transcripts;
• Demonstrable knowledge of and experience with relevant research methods, such as text analysis, cultural analysis, historical research, archival research, oral history, etc.;
• Demonstrable experience working with theoretical frameworks, and a keen interest in the research fields central to the project: ecocritical theory, postcolonial or decolonial theory, colonial history, neerlandophone literature;
• Excellent written and spoken English, and a high level of proficiency in/understanding of Dutch;
• Team spirit and experience working in an interdisciplinary, international setting;
• Willingness to travel abroad for fieldwork, research stays, conferences and workshops;
• Strong interpersonal, analytical and organizational skills.

Please note that if you already hold a doctorate/PhD or are working towards obtaining a similar degree elsewhere, you will not be admitted to a doctoral programme at the UvA.

ABOUT US

The University of Amsterdam is the largest university in the Netherlands, with the broadest spectrum of degree programmes. It is an intellectual hub with 42,000 students, 6,000 employees and 3,000 doctoral students who are all committed to a culture of inquiring minds.
The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in de field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. Research and teaching staff focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and are active in several teaching programmes.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

You will work on a research project of your own design within the project ‘How to Welcome the Water: Re-Imagining Our Life with Water through Marginalised Stories in the Neerlandophone Space.’ The project aims to open new perspectives for sustainable becomings with water by dismantling objectifying narratives of water in historical and present-day water management. It seeks to envisage alternatives to the age-old Dutch narrative of the ‘battle against the water’, which precludes a sustainable coexistence between humans and water. Hypothesising that Dutch narratives of water as the ecological Other hark back to colonial notions of toleration and integration, this project aims to confront dominant narratives about water with marginalised stories of living and becoming with water in the neerlandophone space at large, using ecocritical and decolonial theory.
The central methodology will be textual analysis, considering ‘text’ in the broadest sense, including legends, religious stories, oral history, travel accounts, cartography, etc., on topics varying from any body of water to its inhabitants, waterworks, pollution, etc. The corpus will be compiled in consultation with the PhD researcher, based on their research proposal, but the focus should lie with marginalised voices in the neerlandophone space, i.e. all places where people spoke or have been in contact with Dutch language, such as the Netherlands, Flemish Belgium, Indonesia, South Africa, Suriname, and the Caribbean Islands.

The PhD project has an interdisciplinary character in the sense that it combines insights and methods from Literary Studies with, for example:

• a multilingual approach: examens stories about water in non-Dutch languages by indigenous, enslaved or indentured peoples, and their descendants, in former Dutch colonies. This approach may involve archival research, oral history, and translation studies.
• a neo-materialist approach: focuses on the material realities of water, informed by a neo-materialist theoretical framework. This approach involves close collaboration with Environmental Studies, Life Sciences or Earth Sciences.
• a transhistorical approach: investigates the interactions between stories about water at different moments in the history of Dutch colonialism, globalization, immigration, etc. This profile should distinguish itself from ongoing research into water in the field of Dutch literary studies.

TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Conducting research and completing a PhD thesis within the period of appointment;
• Publishing two peer-reviewed (co-authored) journal articles or book chapters within the period of appointment;
• Setting up and managing project data (while taking into consideration the project’s risk analysis, and complying with its data management plan);
• Participating in project meetings, and closely collaborating with relevant research groups and colleagues in the department of Dutch Language and Culture;
• Assisting with knowledge dissemination and with the organization of project workshops, conferences and creative events;
• Presenting research results at national and international workshops and conferences;
• Participating in the ASCA and Faculty of Humanities PhD training programmes;
• Teaching in BA programmes in years 2 and 3 of the PhD project.